Holsome Tea, Princeton NJ

Holsome tea is an awesome tea shop. It carries many varieties of tea. The highlights for me are competition grade Long Jing, Oolong and Pouchong as well as excellent Pi Lo Chun. If you are looking to try something new, just learning about tea or want one of the above mentioned styles of tea, this is probably one of the better places to come--it is the best place I have been too, but I still have many places to go to. The tea shop also has Traditional Chinese Medicine and other herbs in a very calming space with an interesting sculpture hanging by some yixing pots (sorry, no pictures of this, but you can find some on their Web site).

Back to the tea:
The owner, Dr. Shu has direct connections to many of the tea growing regions that he acquires his tea from. This is most evident for his high grade Pi Lo Chun; the Pi Lo Chun is only picked on the first day of day picking. The only way Dr. Shu can ensure that it is so, and not just picked in the first few days is because his relative oversees the picking and shipping of the tea. For the high grades of High Mountain Oolong and Pouchong, Dr. Shu picks his favorite region for the tea and orders directly from the growers. (I do not know the story for the Long Jings, but I assume it is similar and that he also ensures that they come from the Dragon Well, or Lake) In upcoming posts I will look at a Competition grade Pouchong and a High Mountain style Oolong--though not competition grade.

If you are ever traveling through or near Princeton, NJ, I highly recommend stopping in.